A Badass Teacher's Declaration of Independence

Teachers are in the cross-hairs of every ambitious politician and profit-hungry corporation in the nation. They want to script us, intimidate us, deprive us of our power and self respect and replace us with computers and temporary workers. They have bought off and/or neutralized the leadership of our unions, and turned foundations and the media into cliche spouting exponents of testing and rating systems based on junk science which will turn classrooms into zones of stress and demoralization for us and our students. We created this group so that teachers who want to fight back without fear and without compromise could find one another and draw strength from one another. This is not a group for the faint-hearted. We are fighting the richest and most powerful people in the country who control both major parties. They play rough. They play dirty. But what choice do we have? Who can we trust? If your pride tells you enough is enough, maybe this is time to "throw down" and this is the group for you. Nobody knows where this locomotive is heading. But I will be damned if I jump off it if the alternative is taking orders from people who have contempt for the very things I have devoted my life to.